"She wanted to see you," improvised Ricky.
Count Alvisi looked up. "The Venator. " He sounded pleased. "A pleasant surprise. "
Macey was close enough to see the mole on his cheek, and that he had begun to turn gray at the temples before he was turned. Close enough.
With a glance at Ricky, she threw him off and launched herself at the count. His palette and brush went flying, and the other vampires shrieked as she grabbed Alvisi by the collar and poised her stake over his heart even as her wound twinged in warning. The sound of a door slamming open behind her told Macey Chas had appeared, right on cue.
"How's this for a pleasant surprise?"
The count's eyes were wide with shock and fear. Macey pressed her advantage, aware that Chas had already dispatched one of the undead. She didn't turn to see whether it was Flora.
"I hear you're one of the most powerful undead in the world," she taunted. "You could have fooled me. " He shrank inside his shirt, tried to brighten his eyes with a glowing thrall, and failed when she flexed her fingers, tightening the stake against him. "Where's Sebastian Vioget?"
"Vioget? I don't know. "
"I don't believe you. " Amid the sound of feminine grunts and flesh pounding flesh, Chas staked another vampire behind her. But Macey heard shouts and running footsteps in the distance. Damn.
"I don't know where he is. Haven't seen him. "
"Have you heard anything about him? Iscariot? Does he have him?"
"Iscariot. " At this Alvisi showed emotions other than fear: disgust and hatred. "I wouldn't know. We don't mingle. "
Macey's control, which had been teetering for days, slipped. "Why did you take my friend? Why did you do that to her?" Her voice was too high.
"Who? What? I don't know what you me-"
Disgusted with him as much as herself, she piked him with the stake. "Goodbye, Count Alvisi. "
Brushing off his ash, she turned to find Chas holding his own with Flora and the other female.
"Macey!" Flora cried.
Holding her stake at the ready, Macey advanced, slipping behind Chas. She grabbed her friendqrdlyl f by the arm and yanked her from the melee. "Hf disappointme
Chapter SEVENTEEN
~ Reality in the Light of Day ~
Macey emerged into the bright light of day, leaving Alvisi's lair behind her. Chas was behind her, but she didn't want to talk. She stayed ahead of him.
The warm sun should have been a welcome sensation after such darkness, death, and destruction, but it only served to remind her of light, of normalcy, of happiness. Of life before.
Dejected, exhausted, and sick at heart, she trudged down the street in silence, weaving among and between other passersby who had no idea what evil lived beneath their streets. She'd found a coat to hide the bloodstains on her dress, but there were splatters of blood on her face and throat. No one seemed to notice.
Children gathered in parks, swinging, chasing each other, playing catch. Girlfriends linked arms and laughed at the soda fountain. Men jested on street corners while eating hot dogs. Motqll ly picturehers held the hands of dancing toddlers, pushed strollers, gave orders. Fathers carried children on their shoulders, managed dog leashes.
And so life went on. So utterly normal. And good.
Alvisi was dead. Flora lived. No, existed. Existed. . . owned and beholden to the devil. But lost to her. The look in her eyes told Macey there was no chance for redemption.
What was left of her friend was well and truly gone.
And Sebastian was still missing, but at least she knew who had him. Iscariot.
Macey glanced up as she crossed the street and saw the huge Chicago Tribune sign emblazoned on its building. Another stab of grief tore through her belly, superseding the aching wound in her shoulder, the scratches and cuts and bites on the rest of her. Those would heal much sooner, and much more easily, than the loss of Grady in her life.
J. Grady.